Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126008
a • I .. • . III ~ ,; 10 l' 0') ....-I c<") C'l M qJ ..0 S· qJ ..... c, qJ en Girls will be girls; and girts, it seems, will also be racers if they feel like it. The four fast ladies shown here (left to right , Sue Edyvean, Alice Macpherson, Sue Bou rn. and below, B.G. Ledgaidl apparently impressed our wandering California freela ncer. Innovative. he called it. By J o hn Ulrich t's always a welcome shock to leave Southern California, often credited as be ing road racing capital of the universe, and discover something innovative at a track far from Smog Land. So when I see Alice Macpherson working on her TZ 350 in the pits I at Loudon June 15, 1 know 1 nave stumbled across so mething differen t. Back home in California, 1 know of only two regular female-type road racers, one with a 50cc GP bike, and the other riding a 125cc Production bike. Here at Loudon, eight women make it to the starting grid for a special "Ms. Match." It would have been nine, but one woman, sponsored by a truck stop, hurt her sel f in a GP crash. Liz B runda, a talkative AAMRR official who loves to tell everyone who will listen about the time she raced against the men and came in third riding a 250 in the 350cc Production class, claims credit for the Ms. Match. "It's my baby ," she says. The idea behind the race is to provide a training ground for women who m ight like to try road racing, but lack the - uh, mmm involvement for dicing it out with the men . At Loudon this fine June day, entries in the class range from A lice Macpherson , a Junior-rated Ca nadian Motorcycle Association racer, and motorcycle mechanic from Toronto ; to B. G . Ledgaid, who doesn't own a motorcycle and rarely rides; to Sue Bourn . a sometimes street rider and Ms. Match specialist who has a habit of winning. Ms. Macpherson teaches self defense when she's no t working at Mike's Bikes in Toronto. She's al ready ridden her TZ 350 in t he Junior race here, her third time on the bike. Having left her p erson al RD 350, which she raced all last year, at home: in the erroneous belief that she could run her TZ in the Ms. Match, Alice borrows an RD from a fellow Canadian, to meet the class "street legal" rul e, A l i c e got into b ikes at age 16 - becau se she .co uld n't afford a , car. She views racing as "the logical conel usion of riding a bike at any point ," and races under the name "Team Barnyard." "Well, I'm a chicken," she clucks. "That seems reasonable, doesn't it?" B.G . Ledgaid, on the other hand, doesn' t race under any banner. She borrows leathers from a friend to compete. In spite of neighbo r Steve Keeney's assertions that B.G. is "really smooth, "very much in co ntro l, never over her head," she thinks before the race that she will only take "fourth or fifth, if I'm lucky." '" t hink the Ms . Mat ch is good," B.G . continues , "because I was practicing out there with the men and they were just whizzing by. But , think they sho uld classify the women more. Some of them are Juniors , and I'm a Novice. Some of the girls are really fast." Sue Edyvean usually races a '25 GP Yamaha with "Team Jellybean" painted o n the side . For this race , she 's mo unted on a street-lega l bike, like all t he entrants. Before making the grid scene, she uses a curling iron in the pits to touch up her dazzling looks. When it comes right down to the race, Alice takes an early lead, and looks to be a sure winner . But , alas, U [ got myself in a position I've never been in before: first p lace. So , slowed down." . As Alice slows down, Sue Bourn turns her fastest lap ever. a 1:35 on her RD 350. '" guess' just got a little pumped up. , can't really remember. But it seemed like I was catching up, mostl y in the comers ." S ue passes Alice late in the race and stretches it out. Later, she says of the program, "For me , it's great, because [ don't plan to race with the men. It's good for some girl who just wants to come out and ride ." "If they I(et rid of the Ms . Matches, I'm retired." Organizer Liz Bunda, the one who likes to tell of her successes against the men , finishes a d isappointing fourth or fifth, depe nding on who yo u listen to . "I've never ridden a b ike with disc brakes," she says , pointing to he r bon-owed RD 350. " And ' haven't been on this track for a long ti me. Look at those pipes! They've got less clearance than the footpegs!" What can we say? It looks lik e wo men , road ncing-beat s getting- p resnant.• • • • ' ===_